Protests mount over massive fiber mill in Spain's Galicia

DW (English)

Shellfish collectors and farmers in Spain's northern Galicia region fear a massive cellulose factory, the largest in Europe, will pollute the water, endangering their traditional way of life.

Transcript

00:00Ana Maria Corres Mugan struggles with what a devastating storm has left on the shellfish

00:07banks at the coast of Galicia's island of Barosa in Spain.

00:12Tons of algae.

00:15We have to remove it quickly.

00:17And look how much we have to remove.

00:20You'll see how much shellfish will survive this.

00:26These ones are cockles.

00:28And look, now they have come to the top.

00:30They were suffocating.

00:32Now we have to leave the place clean and they will bury themselves again.

00:38Ana Maria is a shellfish collector and like most here has dedicated her whole life to

00:43this traditional job in the north of Spain.

00:46But it's become more difficult.

00:48Extreme weather events and pollution can easily spoil her harvest.

00:52Lately she is worried about the plans to open a big fiber factory nearby.

00:58The water that will arrive here will be contaminated.

01:01It will be discharged into the river and flow into the sea.

01:04If they open a factory then that's our end.

01:06Really our end.

01:07And we need to find other jobs.

01:09The estuary of Barosa is one of Spain's most economically active bay areas.

01:15Thousands work in the fishery business and supply fresh produce to markets all over the

01:20country.

01:22The fiber factory proposed by Portuguese company Aldri is considered a threat to many and could

01:28be built between Melilla and Palacere, inland.

01:32Signs of protest are omnipresent.

01:34Tens of thousands sign petitions against the factory.

01:38At peak times it could use up to 46 million liters of water from the region's Ulla river

01:43every day.

01:45More than half would go back into the river, recycled and treated.

01:50It's treated water.

01:52That does not mean that it is water in good condition.

01:55This water will somehow alter the characteristics of the river and it will directly affect and

01:59economically impact the activity that is linked to the river and the Barosa estuary.

02:05We're talking about an ecological impact that I believe has not yet been fully calculated

02:11because we are talking about a climate emergency scenario that will require brave and decisive

02:16actions to counteract what is happening to us.

02:20Aldri's project is a direct attack on local entrepreneurs and the environment, says biologist

02:26Ana Corredoira.

02:28She runs a small family farm with 100 cows and produces milk, all organic and certified.

02:35She also fears the factory's emissions could cause acid rain and spoil the meadow where

02:41her cows graze.

02:44Any contamination puts her ecolabel at risk.

02:50Aldri's Pedro Baptista insists that doubts about contamination are unreasonable as the

02:55factory will use new technologies to keep pollution to a minimum.

03:00Licensing and EU funds have yet to be confirmed, though.

03:04The locally governing Conservative Party supports the factory, saying it would create 500 direct

03:10jobs, producing biodegradable lyosil.

03:14Baptista says the water footprint of the production plant would be restricted.

03:19We have a treatment plant.

03:21One of our plants has a technology that is new to this industry.

03:25It allows us to have such quality that it is possible to recirculate a part of the water

03:31inside the plant to replace water collected from the reservoir.

03:41But locals are not convinced.

03:43Dozens of initiatives in Galicia have held events to discuss their options and how to

03:49stop the project.

03:51Also here at a meeting of a platform to protect the Arosa estuary.

03:56Time and again they have witnessed how industrial spills have contaminated their waters.

04:00They won't rely on promises yet again.

04:04The problem of the current pollution in the Arosa estuary partly comes from failures in

04:09the sanitation of urban wastewater treatment plants and partly from industrial pollution.

04:17It comes from the Ulla river, which is behind us, or from the Ilna river, or from the factories

04:23that are close to the estuary.

04:26And factories are often not controlled by the autonomous administration as they should

04:30be.

04:39That makes the Arosa estuary vulnerable.

04:42And shellfish collectors like Ana Maria Corres Mugan even more protective of what matters

04:47to herself and many others.

04:51This is my life since I was little and the life of my grandparents and parents and I

04:56wanted to continue and the people that work and care for it.

05:00The regional government wants to publish an environmental impact report for the fiber

05:04factory soon, a factory that few here can imagine coexisting with.

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